Riding in China

[MartyA]

Sally and I were fortunate to fly to China over the holidays. Our newest granddaughter was being baptised and we were the god parents. My daughter lives in Shenzhen, which is just north of Hong Kong, across the border in mainland China. The area she is in does not allow motorcycles, only scooters and mopeds. So we traveled about 2 hours east to an area that allows 125cc bikes. I paid a local guy to let me and Sally take a turn around the parking lot. Then of course the cops showed up so we had to disappear on foot.

This is a ride report, so here is the report:
We bribed a local on the shiniest bike to let me ride. This is a Honda look-alike, and there are many like this with different names. As long as there are some English letters on the tank it is a good bike. I rolled on the throttle, let the clutch out, added more throttle, added MORE throttle, pushed it a little, let the mushy clutch out the rest or the way, and headed off in the parking lot.



It cornered surprisingly well at about 15 KPH in the twisty parking lot. The pillion was a bit cramped, as these seats are made for 100 lb 5 ft tall mostly solo riders. Suspension was firm, well it was mostly totally compressed, and we did circle.



The cops pulled in just as we arrived back with sore butts and stiff legs. Overall the bike was suited for a parking lot spin, but not for any long distance touring.... at least for anyone over 5 ft tall... Brakes were weak and tended to fade after more than one application in a row...



These are the cops that showed up. Bike is labeled Suzuki, but probably is not. I was very concerned as I had no helmet (don't know if they are required) and of course no license. I wondered how excited the Chinese police would get. Actually they stopped at their little checkpoint house, had a laugh with the guys on duty (which I didn't realize were there!) and then took off.



Another police bike in another part of town. I saw probably 8 police bikes in the mainland, one was labeled HONDA and the others were all different.



We have collected China!

[prometheus578]

Chinese bikes (and Korean and Taiwanese) sure aren't good ol' Japanese bikes, are they.

[Wildkat]

How fun!
Very cool Marty!

Thanks for sharing...

How long were you there? Did you get a chance to do much sightseeing?

[MartyA]

We were in Shenzhen for 6 days, Hong Kong for a day and a half. Shenzhen is north of Hong Kong in southern China, just over border in mainland China. It never snows there, winter daytime temperatures are in the 60's, summer temps get into the mid 90's. One important aspect of Shenzhen is that it is only 25 years old.

The country failed miserably and the entire population almost starved during the "Cultural Revolution" under Mao Tse Dung. 30 years ago his successor Deng Xiao Ping stood on a cliff overlooking the marshy shoreline of Shenzhen with its couple of fishing villages and stated the "Commercial Revolution" was to start here. 30 years later there are 20 million people living and working there in Shenzhen. High rise apartments mix with high rise offices and factories. There is almost no historical touristy places there.

If you pointed to Hong Kong, then drew a 100 km radius from west to north to east (south is the China Sea and ocean) you find 50 million people. I don't think you can find that anywhere else on the planet.

Due to its newness it is city of contrasts and a strange mixture of old superstitious ways and 21st century ways; 8,000 year old culture mixed with modern world-wide culture. They think hot water in the kitchen and clothes driers are a strange western tradition, yet listen to MP3 players, have cable TV, and everyone has a cell phone.
More:
Registered, licensed 21st century vehicles and licensed beggars.
10 x 10 counterfeit shops along a dirty alley and glitzy 3 story malls with 100's of name brand stores and Christmas decorations.
Driving in modern 4 and 6 lane roads, with traffic lights, and not knowing how to get in line, turning right from the left lane, turning left for 1/2 block from the oncoming lanes, and otherwise basically ignoring the crossing lights and jaywalking.
American and European influenced lifestyles but no personal space.
Glitzy grocery stores and open air corner food vendors.

Hong Kong and Kowloon are very crowded, and likely the richest 10 square miles in the world. Our motel room at the Eaton was $2000 HK dollars, about $290 USD. You can see Ferraris and sport bikes along with thousands of Mercedes. All averaging about 5 MPH with all the traffic and the stop lights. There are more people walking than driving, but only slightly. AND there they drive under British rules, wrong side of the road. They also have double-deck buses. We walked around downtown and saw some of the buildings being renovated, and they use bamboo for scaffolding. We did get to the top of Victoria Peak. THis about 2000 feet up a very long and twisty road and you can see all of Kowloon and across the bay to Hong Kong. It is probably the #1 tourist target.

One could write a lot more but I hope this gives a flavor of another part of the world.

[oseaghdha]

Get one of these, you don't need a license.

And, you can ride on the sidewalk, in the street the wrong way, run red lights, and drive crazy like everyone else.

Dragging it in and out of the elevator is fun too!

[MartyA]

More on 2 and 3 wheeled vehicles I saw:

Price of gas the week we were there. The Gov't sets the price regardless of availability or demand. This calculates to a gallon of regular 93 to be $3.18 USD, roughly.



One other photo of me and Sally in the parking lot:



This is an electric moped with a magnet / wound DC motor on the rear wheel.



Regular scooter. We didn't see too many of these.



All the recyclers we saw in Shenzhen had 3 wheeled pedal cycles.





In the western area there are more 3 wheelers with small gas motors:



Bicycles are used to deliver goods also. Not sure just how safe this is...



In Hong Kong you can find regular motorcycles. This one even has a USA sticker:



More police photos:
A "FEKON":



It says HONDA on the tank:



Says Suzuki on the tank:



This has "Global eagle" (with a small '"e" in "eagle") on the tank:



And when you don't have a truck or a pedal pickup, you can use a more "green" approach. We spotted this delivery method moving westward on the 4 lane near the 2nd biggest container shipyard in the world, in the eastern area of Shenzhen:



Just a short note on wages. In Shenzhen the average worker makes about 450-600 RMB per month, around 100 - 150 per week. This is equal to $14.60 - 22.00 USD per week. When I slipped the guy some cash for letting me ride his bike I had a 10 and 100 in my wallet. I planned to give him the 10 RMB but accidently gave him the 100. We were walking away and suddenly the other bikers hanging around were all yelling. I asked Jen's friend what they were all yelling and he said they all wanted me to try their bikes. I then realized I had given the guy the 100. Prolly going to be a story he tells every year at his family reunions to his great great grandchildren.....
Still, worth every cent in braggin' rights

[trbig]

Marty,

Wanna ride my bike around the parking lot?

Tod

[MartyA]

hey big!
Yeah, I need to collect South America. Run it down there, find a parking lot, I'll meet you there and pay you $20. Hey I'm good for it.....

[trbig]

Sounds good. Head that way and I'll meet you there. If you make it there before me, just sit there on the sidewalk and wait on me. Dress nice and "Touristy" with a bright Hawaiian shirt and stand there with that $20 in your hand... nice and visible to everyone.

Tod

[Jerry]

My oldest sister just spend a semester in China, town of Xi'an. According to her descriptions, you wouldn't want to ride in any of the cities. A side trip to Bejing was part of the deal, traffic whas little better than chaos. I am looking forward to seeing her photos, she returned home over Christmas but we haven't hooked up yet.

She had a great time overall, but liked the sammler towns better than Bejing. 'Course, you hve to get used to the smell(s) which she claims she will never forget.

[prometheus578]

Korean cities smell like diesel and coal smoke.